With one comment so far (comments open!):
Seriously, is this for real? American expats already declare and pay (higher) taxes wherever they are resident. Perhaps all this bureaucratic nonsense ought to be scrapped? It would not hurt America to bring herself into the 21st century world of residence-based taxation. The IRS would consequently become leaner or more effective by focussing on territorial taxation. An antiquated (19th century) tax policy called citizenship-based taxation should have been written in history books a long time ago…
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…which would lead one to agree: Virginia La Torre Jeker J.D, February 23, 2015: “Why the US Tax System Needs to Change”!
…Anon is apparently one of many hapless dual-nationals now caught in the big FAT(CA) trap. He’s obviously never filed a US tax return, is clueless about FBARs, SFFA’s reportable on Form 8938, PFICs, CFCs and all other variations of the US tax alphabet soup. Now, Anon’s local bank in Saudi Arabia (which is viewed as a “foreign” financial institution for US tax purposes) is probably asking him for a so-called “FATCA certification”. In all likelihood, the bank noticed that Anon’s Saudi passport listed a US birthplace. As part of the FATCA mandate imposed on this “foreign” bank, Anon must now “certify” his US status or provide evidence satisfactory to the bank that he is no longer a US person. Anon has probably done some investigating about FATCA and what it means to be a US citizen. Anon has just been given the shock of his life.
I’m afraid this guy is just trying to cash in on fees from his affluent town just west of Boston.
Given the low awareness (or really disbelief) by ex-pats, high cost of US tax preparers abroad coupled with the extra intrusive forms Homelanders don’t have to contend with, it’s not surprising even with FATCA the IRS will still have a 90%+ non-compliance rate from US ex-pats.
Whether the IRS / US Gov’t / Obama Admin / Schumer & Levin want to believe it or not, US ex-pats are not interested in complying with Citizenship Based Taxation when they’re paying all their taxes overseas.
For long term ex-pats with little or no financial connections with the US what does the US Government really expect?
I hope the Canadian Federal Court rules that no banking information can be sent until after a trial at the Canadian Supreme Court and put Harper & Co under pressure and send a clear message to the US Congress this is not going to be a walk in the park.
As I see it all this bureaucratic nonsense is really what FATCA is all about. Who is the real beneficiary? Not so much the IRS but the ‘tax compliance industry’ – represented by the individuals politically appointed to senior positions in the IRS who then insert ever more complexity into the expat tax requirements (think H&R Block, etc), thus ensuring that it is the members of their exclusive club who benefit. They are the ones who need to be named and shamed!
I attempted to post a comment yesterday, but it failed for one reason or another. I did however this afternoon send an email to the forum mentioning ADCA, the lawsuit, and giving them Stephen Kish’s email address, in the hope that they will write something on the story.
I see that John Richardson has commented.
Obama was a lawyer, right ?
So, with FATCA he’s just trying to give work to his friends.
95% US citizens won’t comply anyway.
What a waste of energy for nothing except giving a very bad image of the USA.
Notice after his long post addressing various IRS forms, he closes with “check the IRS’s website, which has thousands of pages for your reading pleasure.” I don’t think he’s exaggerating about how many pages there are!
Glad that John Richardson got on there to warn readers it’s “difficult is to live as a “U.S. tax compliant” despite the lies and false assurances of the Americans who created or who benefit from FATCA compliance. Once you get on the IRS radar, or make a mistake on their forms, you’ll be in deeper trouble.
FATCA is here to stay. Why? Because governments all over are happy to know all about bank accounts everywhere. There is no way they will turn down this opportunity to go after “tax cheats”. Never mind the notions of freedom (to have accounts where you want) and privacy (not having your personal info exposed). And the political winds are all in favor of taxing the rich tax evaders (not really caring if they are neither rich nor tax evaders nor even owing taxes).
And therefore the only rational development would be ending CBT in favor of RBT.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t resist FATCA with all our might.
And FATCA highlights the absurdity of CBT. If every country had CBT like the US, imagine a family with several passports and yet another place of residence. US father, French mother, living in Spain, triple citizenship children, moving to Argentina and having to do 4 tax returns per person.
Fantastic set of comments on the WSJExpat article and an exceptionally fine contribution from Ms. Jeker. Thanks for posting these, Calgary! They’ve given me a badly needed lift!
(Kudos particularly to Deckard, maz57, JC and John Richardson!)
My business small as it is, is striking a blow back against Big Bad USA.
Amended Text on my blog:
“Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
Due to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and its ramifications world-wide, Falconrose Photography has ceased doing business with all American-based suppliers. FalconRose Photography will patronize Canadian suppliers and retailers of photographic equipment.
Also, this will result in sales of images to United States purchasers treated as if the purchase had taken place in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, and that all such provincial and federal sales taxes due will be paid by the purchaser (due to the complicated tax process involved, point of sale cannot be specified at location of purchaser.)
We are a small Canadian company and as such, we have had to take measures to protect ourselves (by removing all stain of US tax presence – being treated as a US taxable person; we are Canadian) from United States Taxation and its complicated methods of filing taxes under the United States Tax Code.
We are also boycotting any United States shooting locations and will proceed to shooting schedules in Canada only. Canada is a vast and beautiful country and there are plenty of places to photograph without having to step outside it. We look forward to continuing to bring beautiful images of Canada’s wildlife and landscapes for your viewing pleasure.”
There… TAKE THAT, OBAMA.
Oh, US purchasers are really going to love me now.
To the second paragraph, I have added at the end… “Purchaser is responsible for payment of all US federal and state use-taxes as we will not be collecting those for the United States Government.”